Prasar Bharati sits over Rs156 crore due to producers

India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati owes dues worth over Rs 156 crore to producers –including Ramesh Sippy's RS Entertainment and Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms–which may cast its shadow on its new slot sale policy, thus demotivating producers to invest again in Doordarshan.

The slot sale policy was launched recently by Doordarshan for auctioning prime time slots of DD National. Unlike its earlier policy, Doordarshan would not have to invest large amount of money to acquire programmes under the new policy. The policy would also ensure that producers maintain the quality of his programme, since he would be getting a share of the revenue generated out of it. Doordarshan's major hit series such as Ramayana, Mahabharat, Hum Log, Buniyaad were produced through a similar method.

Prasar Bharati has invited proposals from eligible producers interested in producing 'general entertainment' shows till July 4. However, only two applications were received by the broadcaster till June 27.

Data available with Doordarshan shows it is yet to pay Rs46 lakh to RS Entertainment, a production company founded by renowned producer Ramesh Sippy for his acclaimed programme 'Buniyaad', which was re-run in 2015. The public broadcaster has to pay nearly Rs5.5 crore to Balaji Telefilms for the show Pavitra Bandhan.

Under Prasar Bharati's earlier Self Financed Commission (SFC) Scheme, where the Doordarshan had to acquire programmes from producers by paying them first and then recovering the cost through ad revenue, dues worth Rs 10-12 crore are yet to be cleared. The scheme was discontinued after losses with the DD surged.

Similarly, under its earlier One Time Settlement Scheme (OTSS), the Prasar Bharati has to pay up Rs 140 crore to five production companies, including Cinevista and Sagar Arts. The amount that Prasar Bharati had to pay initially was Rs82 crore that went up to Rs262.7 crore with interest. Under the OTSS, nearly Rs122 crore was waived off after the bargain, and the five producers had to settle on Rs140 crore.

Requesting anonymity, a top producer, whose dues are pending with Doordarshan, said he will think twice before investing in the channel since he had been having a 'tough time' in recovering his money.

"Still, there are dues left after two years. Even under the OTSS, many producers had to settle for peanuts as compared to what they had invested originally, since they had no other option to recover their money," the producer told dna.

A few producers dna spoke to also expressed apprehensions about the rigidity of Prasar Bharati is introducing slight tweaks to the policy. "The policy says production houses which have at least 300 hours of Hindi general entertainment programming, can apply. Why can't those apply who have, say 280 hours of experience in Hindi programming and more experience in Marathi programming?"a producer asked.

When dna contacted Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, he said, "I am exasperated that even after full support of the Prasar Bharati board and the government, we cannot get rid of bureaucratic mindset of the DD. Now that a new DG has finally joined after two years of mess, we are hopeful that things will change for the better."

Sircar clarified that special cases, like instances of produces not having the exact years of experience as slated in the policy, will also be considered. "In a recent meeting in Mumbai, many big producers have shown interest in DD under the new policy. Grey areas, if any, will be considered by the empowered committee," he said.